Men Take Second in Slalom, Giant Slalom at Saint Anselm USCSA Carnival

Freshman Emily Hannah turned in a top-ten performance for the Crimson in Saturday's race at the UVM Carnival, her first ever on the EISA circuit. Sophomore Akeo Maifeld-Carucci and junior Chris Stock took turns leading the Crimson men. In Alpine, Becca Nadler won two races and Simon Merryweather took two podium spots at the St. Anselm Invitational.

Nordic Race Report – UVM Carnival 5/10km SK and 10/10km CL

This weekend's UVM Carnival in Stowe, Vt., doubled as Eastern Cup races, providing for a crowded venue and nearly doubling the size of the field. This weekend also heralded the return of a number of EISA racers who spent the past two weeks racing at World Junior and U23 World Championships. Unsurprisingly, their return ratcheted up the level of competition in Saturday's 5 (women) and 10 (men) kilometer skate races.

Emily Hanna overcame her jetlag, having returned last Monday from World Juniors in the Czech Republic, and raced to a 10th place finish in her first ever college competition. Freshman Annie Harvieux (42) and junior Jen Rolfes (56) rounded out the scoring on the women's side. Sophomore Emily Rogers, skiing in the Eastern Cup field, was less than a second behind freshman Hanna Barnes and both were close behind Jen. Akeo turned in the Crimson's top score in the skate race, placing 19th. Captain Tony Ryerson (21) finished less than five seconds behind, and Chris finished 25th, scoring enough points to put the Harvard men in 5th for the day, only two points behind 4th-place Middlebury.

Hanna led the women for the first time this year with her best collegiate placing ever: 46th. The four Harvard women entered in the carnival race skied very similar races, as Hanna was followed closely by Jen (49), Annie (51), and freshman and Stowe native Maggie McGovern (57).

Chris turned in a great performance in the men's classic race an hour later, finishing in a tie for 12th (10 seconds out of the top 10). Akeo (40) and Tony (41) placed right next to one another to complete the weekend's point scoring.

The Crimson will return to Vermont this weekend to race in the Dartmouth Carnival, which has been relocated to the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Craftsbury.

Alpine Race Report – St. Anselm USCSA Carnival

With the SL and GS events of the UVM Carnival having been held last month, Alpine took a break from EISA competition and competed in the non-conference St. Anselm's Invitational Carnival at Crotched Mountain, N.H. It was a great chance for our athletes to race on the hill they train on several times a week. Also, with a slightly less-stacked field, our skiers were looking forward to having better starting positions- and therefore better course conditions – allowing them to execute in a race what they have been working so hard on in training.

Saturday's slalom on the Meteor trail was the longest slalom race our skiers will compete in this season. Each course had nearly 70 gates and was about one minute long per run. Becca Nadler led the way for the women's team, taking the win with Liz Stronghot on her heels in fourth place, and Samantha Udolf notching a 15th place finish on the day. The men did a great job of putting together two clean, solid runs, and it showed in their performance. Simon Merryweather found himself on the podium in 3rd place at the end of the day. Senior captain Andrew Spielvogel put together two strong runs for fifth place from the 30th start spot, Matt Mansson notched a top-10 in ninth place, with Dan Rittenhouse making the jump from the 60th start spot to end the day in 30th position. Both the men's and women's teams finished in second place in their respective team-scored events.

Sunday's GS race also used the Meteor trail, but also made use of a newly-cut extension above the previous summit of the ski area. This made for a challenging upper section with some very pronounced terrain that had racers catching some air over one of the rollers at the top of the course. Both runs were fast courses on rock-hard snow, demanding both precision and aggression out of the athletes, as the final 20 seconds of the race were quite flat, meaning skiers needed to take some risks coming off the pitch and onto the flat to carry the most amount of speed possible to the finish.

Becca led the women's field, winning by nearly three seconds. Liz put together her two best GS runs of the season, good enough for 11th on the day. Samantha was skiing the best GS run of her life and generated so much energy out of her skis that it threw her right out of the course; a quick recovery got her back in the fight, and a strong second run moved her into 38th for the day. The men did another great job of putting together two solid runs, something they have struggled to do this season up until now. Simon was our top finisher again in third place, with Andrew putting in another strong performance in sixth. Jack Stobierski skied his best GS run of the season in the second run of the day and moved himself up into the 14th spot, while Dan came from the 40th start spot to notch an impressive 17th place. The men repeated their team performance from the previous day with second place, while the women notched a fourth place in the team scoring event.

The team returns to EISA action this coming weekend at the Dartmouth Carnival, with the alpine events being contested at the Dartmouth Skiway in Lyme, N.H.